g-uerber



4 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

P. S. GUERBER.

AUTOMATIC BLOGK-SIGNAL SYSTEM FOR RAILWAYS.

No. 378,306. Patented Feb. 2, 188 8.

W FNEFEEE N. PETERS. Phclo-Llihuguphcr, washiu tw, u. C.

4 Sheets-Sheet 2. i

(No Model.)

P. S. GUER-BER.

AUTOMATIC BLOCK-SIGNAL SYSTEM FOR RAILWAYS.

Pat ented Feb. 21, 1888.

INVENTDFI WITNEIEEEE N. PETEHS. PhnwLiuw n hr. Wuhmglon. [1.(1.

(No Medal.) 4 sheets-sheet a. F. S. GUERBER.

AUTOMATIC BLOCK SIGNAL SYSTEM FOR RAILWAYS'.

Patented Feb. 21, 1888.

EN V E NW D H WITNESSES (No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

P. S. GUERBER 8 AUTOMATIC BLOCK SIGNAL SYSTEM FOR RAILWAYS.

Patented Feb. 21, 1888.

Eiiili iiiiiiiiiiiliii ii WITNEEEEE INVEZN'TUF! niTnn TATns PATENT rricn.

FREDERICK S. GUERBER, OF ALLENTOW N, PENNSYLVANIA.

AUTOMA'TlC BLOCK SIGNALSYSTEM FOR RAILWAYS.

. 5PECIPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 378,306, dated February 21, 1888.

Application filed Apr-i122, 1887. Serial No. 235,807. (No model.)

To It whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Fnnnnnron S. Gnnnnnn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Allentown, in the county of Lehigh and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Block-Signal Systems for Railways; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification, in which-- Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 are side elevations of signal-posts, signals, track-instruments and connections, illustrating various positions of signals and connections due to passage of a train. Fig. 5 is an elevation of track-instrument. Fig. 6 is a plan, partly in section, of track-instrument. Fig. 7 is a vertical section of part of track and track-instrument. Fig. 8 is an enlarged plan View of a track-instrun'ient and an adjoining rail. Fig. 9 is a side elevation of track-instrument shown in Fig. 8; and Fig. 10 is an end elevation of same, partly broken away, with rail in vertical section.

My invention has relation to block-system signals for railways, in which the track-sections are designated as blocks, and in which provision is made by signals to prevent two trains from being on one block at the same time.

Heretofore the signaling required to indicate that a track is clear or is occupied, or, in other words, the change from safety indication to danger, and vice versa, has frequentl y been made by manual operation.

- The object of my invention is to provide a construction whereby, after an initial setting to safety of aseries or group of signals, the changes to "danger and safety indications will be automatically effected, as herein after set forth.

My improvements consist in the peculiar construction and combination of parts hereinaiter fully described, having reference particularly, first, to the combination, with a series of signal-posts, each having a signal and a weighted lever, of interposed mechanism connected with said signals and controlling their positions, said mechanism being constructed and adapted to be operated by a passing train; second, to the specific construction of an instrument whereby a change of signals will be effected by mechanical appliances put in action by a passing train, as hereinafter fully described.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, A, B, and 0 represent three signal-posts, each of which has a signal that covers of protects a block-section of one and the same track, said blocks being successive or continuous, one after the other. The trains on said blocks are supposed to all run in the same directionfrom the right to the left of the drawings, or from A to B and B to 0. Each of the posts has a signal-lever, (designated as a b a, respectively,) and each of said levers is respectively attached to other levers, D E F, by connections cl) 0. Each of the levers D E F has a weight, (shown at d efi) the weight 6 being greater than weight at, and weight f greater than weight e. The levers D, E, and F have the several arms shown in the drawings, and which will be more particularly referred to in the description that follows relating to their connection with the track-instruments.

G represents one of the tracl'r-instruments, which has a bed-piece, G, with a laterallyprojecting lever, 9, adapted and designed to be moved so as to be depressed at one end and lifted at the other by the wheel of a passing engine or car. In said bed-piece there is also a laterally-movablespring-bolt, g, a slide, 9 having a pivoted latch, g, and another latch, adapted to move lengthwise in guides or ways on the bed-piece. The spring-bolt projects laterally, as shown, on the side of the instrument on which the latches g and g are located, and may be retired wholly within the socket in which it is fitted. when said bolt is at its uttermost projection, the latch 9 may move past it, as said spring-bolt does not at any time project sufficiently to get into the path of said latch; but latch g which has a shoulder, 9 on its inner side,wi1l engage with said bolt, and also with latch g, as here inafter explained. Latch g normally rests upon the inner end of lever g, the lip of said latch which engages with the lip of latch 9* being at or about its middle, or at some distance from its free end, as shown. A. spring, 9 is provided to throw down latch There are three trackinstruments, G, H, and L, of exactly like construction, the instrument G being between the posts A and B, and instrument H between posts B and O, and the instrument L beyond post 0.

M represents a manually-operated lever, by which the instrument L is restored to normal condition, as hereinafter explained.

I may here remark that I have illustrated three posts and signals; but the number may be varied or my invention applied to a series of more or less than three, there being required a track-instrument for every post.

I will now describe the operation as with three posts, which is the same as with a different number.

The signals are all set in the first place at the angle of safety, as shown in Fig. 1, the slide 9" having a connection, t, with the lever D, and its latch 9 being in engagement with the bolt 9, the signal a being thus held at the angle of safety and its leverD elevated. The latch g is pushed inwardly, or toward slide 9,

. having a rigid or rod connection, 7 with a The latch It has a rigid connection, i with one of the arms f of lever F. The other 'arm,f of,1ever F has a connection, 2', with the slide 2' of instrument L, the latches t and 43* of said instrument being in engagement, and said latch 73* having a rigid connection, 2', with the manual lever M. A train moving in the direction from A to B, passing instrument G, will move or trip lever g by contact of its first wheel with said lever, depressing one end of the latter and throwing up the other endthat is, the end on' which latch g is supported. This moves said latch upwardly, releasing it from engagement with spring-bolt g. This permits weight D to descend, and as it descends it moves signal a to angle of danger, moving slide g back until the lip or latch g engages with lip or latch g, the parts being now in the position illustrated in Fig. 2. Signal a continues at danger as long as the train is in block protected by said signal. The train, continuing, passes instrument H, tilting its lever h and elevating its latch h, thus permitting weight e to descend and move signal I) to danger, drawing back'slide h". The movement of lever E, owing to descent of weight 6, imparts a movement to lever K, so that latch g is moved lengthwise, its lip engaging with the lip of latch 5 moving the latter lengthwise until it passes the bolt g, the latter retiring into its socket, by reason of the pressure of latch g on its beveled side, until the' shoulder g of said latch g has passed it, when it shoots forward and engages with said shoulder. The latch g in being pulled forward carried with it the slide 9 and thereby, through connection i, moved lever D upwardly and restored signal a to safety indication, the parts being now as shown in Fig. 3-signals a and c at safety and signal b at danger. It may be here repeated that weight a is superior to weight d, and hence the descent of the former will produce the elevation of the latter, as well as the movement of the, other parts dependent upon the action of said weight. The train, continuing on, passes instrument L, which operates in the manner described, elevating signal 0 to danger, lowering the weighted end of lever F, and bringing signal I) to safety. As lever E rises, lever K vibrates and pushes latch 9' toward slide 9 moving its lip out of contact with the lip of latch The parts are now in the position shown in Fig. 4-signals a and b at safety and signal cat danger. To move signal 0 to safety, lever M has to be thrown back and forth by hand, when the parts not already restored to normal will reassume the position shown in Fig. 1. This same plan of construction and operation may be further continued by increasing successively the weights on the signal-levers sufficiently for the purposes indicated until a limit is reached beyond which increase would not be practicable.

By the construction and arrangement described it will be noted that a train in passing a signal set to safety automatically changes it to danger indication, and that the signal continues at danger while the train is on the block protected by such signal, and on entering another block automatically changes the signal oflatter from safety to danger,

and also that of the preceding already moved signal from danger to safety, the automatic movements being effected by purely mechanical appliances and without electrical agencies.

It will be noted that a passing train does not directly act upon the signal, but only trips or tilts a lever that elevates a latch, and, so liberating said latch and releasing a weighted lever connected therewith, thus permits the weight on the lever connected to the signalblade to alter the position of the latter, and that in passing the next instrument the act of setting one signal to danger restores a pre ceding signal to safety indication.

Itwillfurtherbenotedthat nosignaliseverrestored to safety indication except by the act of asubsequent signal goingto danger, and hence in the event of the failure of the apparatus to set a second signal to danger the preceding signal will not go to safety, but the danger indication of the first or preceding signal remains unchanged.

The preferred form of track instrument which I employ is shown in Figs. 8, 9, andlO, wherein the spring-bolt g is dispensed with, the lever g acting as a detent in its stead, and other changes in detail construction made, which I shall now describe. v

izo

G represents the bed-piece having a vertical slot, through which the lever 9 passes, as shown, the opposite end of said lever lying close to the track-rail, so that a passing wheel on said track will strike and tilt said lever. The lever g has a vertical opening, through which passes a bolt, 0, confined by or fastened in the base G. Said bolt has an encircling spiral spring, 0, and a nut, 0 which serve to hold the lever in position, while allowing liberty of movement, as hereinafter explained. Said lever passes into an opening or recess, 9 in the latch 51 which is pivoted on the slide 9 On the rear side of said slide is a projection, 9 which, when the slide is moved rearwardly, (or to the right in Fig. 9,) meets a stop, said projection and stop being shown in dotted lines, said stop being on the rear side of bed-piece Gand indicated byletterg The latch g. has a'limiting-stop, p, which abuts against one of the guides or keepers p on bedpiece G. The latch has an incline, 19 on its under side, which rides on an incline, 19 on the upper side of slide-lateh g, and also another incline, p*, on which the lever g rides when said latch is moving backward] y, or toward the right in the drawings. Above the lever g is a projection, p of latch 91, against which said lever strikes when tilted, thereby throwing up said latch and releasing it from engagement with latch g.

The general operation and the results of this track-instrument are as already described. \Vhen a passing train tilts lever y, it causes latter to throw up the latch g out of engagement with said lever g and latch 9*, thus permitting said latch g to move with slider/,and effect the change of signal A connected with said slide, as already described. "When signal 13 is moved, the slide-latch 9* moves in under said latch g, engaging therewith, and afterward restoring said latch g to normal position, or to the positionshown in the drawings, as already described. \Vhen theparts are as shown in Fig. 9, the lever 5 acts as a detent, preventing longitudinal movement of latch with slide 9*, as said lever then fits in a notch, 12, in said latch. \Vhen the lever g is tilted, as described, it rises out of said notch and strikes against the projection 19, thus lifting latch g" and permitting it to move longitudinallywith slide g out of engagement with said lever.

Should lever 9 when tilted fail to leave notch slide g and latch g are moved backwardly, or

restored to position shown in the drawings, whereupon spring 0' moves lever 51 down into notch 19, elevating its opposite end into contacting position.

I have shown two different forms of connection between the signal-levers and the trackinstrument slides, the connections i i being cable-connections with the two arms of the levers E and arms of lever K, which is the equivalent of the rigid rod connection i hence I may use any desired form of connec tion, my invention not being confined to any particular kind or style.

lVha-t I claim as my invention is as follows:

1. The combination, with the blocks of a railway and signals protecting said blocks and having levers with progressively-increasing weights, of mechanical connections between said signals and instruments interpolated therein, said instruments being adapted to be tripped by a passing train, whereby a train on entering a block automatically sets the signal thereof to danger, and on leaving said block antomaticall y restores it to safety by set-ting the signal of the subsequent block to danger, substantially as shown and described.

2. A track-instrument constructed substantially as herein described, and comprising bedpiece G, lever g, slide 9, and latches g 9*, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination,with a series of signals, of weighted levers connected therewith, and instruments located between said signals and connected with each, the weights of said levers increasing progressively, whereby they .act successively upon the signals and instruments, substantially as shown and described.

4. The combination, with signals (4Z1 0 and weighted levers D E F, of the track-instruments G H L, each of said track-instruments comprising a lever, a slide, and two latches, and intermediate connections, substantially as described, between said signals, weighted levcrs,and track-instruments, whereby a passing train automatically changes and restores the signal indications, substantially as shown and described.

[5. The combination,with two or more signals, levers therefor with progressivelyincreasing wcights,'and track-instruments, whereby the indications of said signals are automatically changed by a passing train, of a manuallyoperated lever at the end of the connected sig nals, and instruments for restoring the final signal and instrument to normal or operative position, substantially as shown and described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I IIO have hereunto set my hand this 30th day of December, 1886.

- FREDERICK S. GUERBER.

Witnesses:

Tnos. A. CONNOLLY, WILL H. Pown-LL. 

